Friend of slain mother says she was worried about ex-husband

Posted: Sunday, October 07, 2001

The Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) - An unemployed electrical engineer who killed himself after fatally shooting his ex-wife and 7-year-old son had been a source of worry for years, a lifelong friend of the slain mother said.

"This has been coming for years. I was worried about their safety. He did very strange things," said Julie Manfredi, a friend of Bonnie-Loss Murphy since meeting in the 7th grade at West Side School in Elkhart, Ind.

Bonnie Loss-Murphy, 43, and her son Evan, died Wednesday night when Steven Loss went on a shooting rampage in Highland Park, an affluent Dallas suburb.

Police said Steven Loss was listening to music on headphones when he killed his family and then turned the 9mm semiautomatic handgun on himself.

Loss-Murphy's 14-year-old son, Craig, was shot twice in the back and wounded but managed to escape and flag down a motorist for help.

The eldest son said the shooting began after Loss, who had recently returned to Dallas to establish a relationship with his two sons, came to Loss-Murphy's home to pick the boys up for dinner.

Instead, Craig Loss told Detective Marshall Bearor, his father told his ex-wife to "come here." Then, he grabbed her around the neck and shot her in the head, the teen said.

Craig was in good condition Saturday at Baylor University Medical Center.

"He was very irresponsible with the children," said Manfredi. "Instead of being a father to those boys, he was almost like another kid."

Manfredi said she learned of the murder from Bonnie's mother, Betty Bishop, who still lives in the Elkhart home where she and her husband raised their children.

"From the minute I met that guy I didn't like him," Manfredi said in Saturday's editions of The Truth of Elkhart, Ind. "My first marriage was an abusive one and maybe that's why I could see things she couldn't see."

After the shooting, police searched Loss' motel room and found a young child's artwork and poignant notes from Evan expressing love for his father, as well as a stack of job resumes, a few clothes and Loss' small dog.